Anarchy in the US
by wintergenisis
Summary: I MAY CONTINUE THIS PREMISE IN THE FUTURE, REWRITING EVERYTHING, BUT AS OF NOW THIS IS ABANDONED.
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia and I am not making money off of this.**_

 ** _Tumblr Prompt: Person A and Person B meet in the middle of the night at a coin launder and wow you're actually attractive I kind of like you do you wanna go grab burgers or something?_**

 ** _Not Beta'd_**

* * *

The light emanating out of the laundromat seemed to be the only beacon of its kind for miles – the rest of the street was black in the wee hours of the morning. It was certainly no time for Gilbert to be taking his little brother to the laundromat. But his roommates – Elizabeta Hedervary and Roderich Edelstein – were fighting again. The little four-year-old had silently gotten Gilbert's attention, one tiny hand on the man's arm causing him to look away from the screen of his laptop. He'd sighed, pulling out his earbuds, preparing to scold Ludwig and tell him to go back to sleep. But then he heard the yelling, and he knew immediately what was wrong.

"Tante Liz and Onkel Roddy are saying mean things to each other again…" Ludwig had whispered, his soft, blue eyes holding a heavy sadness that struck Gilbert's heart.

He'd been saving money to move out on his own, building a nest egg to support both himself and Ludwig. They'd be on welfare but the important part would be that Ludwig would go to school. That's all that mattered. If Gilbert had to go some nights without food, so be it. Closeness with Elizabeta and Roderich had made his heart grow much less fond. This was becoming a toxic environment for both his brother _and_ himself.

Gilbert looked down at the little boy who tightly clasped his hand, staring straight ahead with the most serious of expressions. He'd always been a rather quiet, solemn child. His alpha instincts had been kicking in a whole lot more, lately, wishing to protect and shelter little Ludwig. But he was failing—both as a man and as an alpha.

Sometimes, he felt like he didn't deserve the responsibility of caring for a child… or for anyone else, for that matter.

"Can you be a big boy and open the door for me?" Gilbert asked Ludwig. "I'm carrying this big basket of laundry, see? When you see someone with their hands full like this, it's awesome of you to be kind and help them."

Ludwig nodded quietly, dutifully taking on what seemed to be the important task of opening the door to his brother. He pushed on it hard, and held it open with both hands, watching Gilbert carefully as he passed through. It was imperative he did not fail in the task he'd been given. Gilbert snorted, knowing all of these things running around in his kid brother's mind. He already took life too seriously.

Maybe Gilbert's dire straits were to blame for that. But he was doing the best he could with what he was given… That had to count for something, right?

Surprisingly, there was someone already in the laundromat at that late hour. Gilbert could smell an alpha nearing his heat, and hear the sound of a gruff English accent muttering something that sounded rather… angry or disgusted. It was accompanied by a fresh clean scent… like the one Ludwig emitted. That seemed to come from a bouncy sounding American boy.

Gilbert put his laundry basket up on the counter. Ludwig was hovering at his leg, ever a shy one in the presence of strangers. The albino looked down at the boy.

"You wanna wash those clothes you got on?"

Ludwig just shook his head.

"Okay, that's fine. I'm gonna wash mine. Then I'll have all of my laundry done, isn't that awesome?"

He peeled his tank top off and quickly shucked off his shorts. He didn't spare them a glance as he tossed them along with everything else into the washing machine. He checked his body, simply looking down the front of it, as he was often wont to do with his clothes out of the way.

That "special mark" hadn't appeared yet—just his skin and his ink.

Roderich and Elizabeta didn't seem to share that mark—the kind that someone gained when they met their soulmate. Each person, once they meet their soulmate, would develop a luminescent marking on their body at the same time as the other person. The marks of soulmates were identical.

Yes… perhaps that was why Roddy and Liz fought so often. They were fighting against fate itself.

"What's wrong?"

Gilbert turned around at the sound of the voice—the child he'd heard earlier. There was a little blond boy with spritely, sky blue eyes talking to Ludwig. Ludwig shrank back a bit and offered no response.

Gilbert simply smiled, kneeling down next to his little brother. "Hey, buddy. I'm sure the kid's nice. Why don't you introduce yourself to him?"

Ludwig simply shook his head, and looked straight into Gilbert's eyes. "Don't wanna talk." He hugged Gilbert's leg. "Don't know him. Don't wanna tell him."

Just as Gilbert was preparing a gentle admonishment (the other boy looked a bit hurt, actually), someone else spoke up, someone with a deeper and smoother voice.

"I'm sorry, is Alfred bothering you two?" Gilbert looked up into the apologetic face of the Brit he'd heard earlier.

Gilbert stood. "Uh, nein. No, he's fine. Ludwig is just shy around strangers."

The man was gorgeous, to be sure, and Gilbert had no shame when he took his time ogling him. Sure, this man was another alpha, but there were no rules that said he couldn't look, right? His bright green eyes were absolutely beautiful. He had a rough look to him, with tattoos peeking out from the short sleeves of his black tee shirt, gauges, and various piercings on his ears and two even on his lips.

Gilbert wasn't judging—of course not. He himself had gauges in addition to an eyebrow piercing and a lip piercing. His tattoos were openly visible, and he wondered if that was what this man was looking at as those green orbs raked over his own, ghostly pale body. He couldn't imagine that he was very attractive.

But Gilbert began to get a bit concerned as he saw the man's eyes focused on one spot, around Gilbert's abdomen. He blinked and tilted his head.

"Is there something on my—" words caught in his throat when he looked down.

The mark was there.

Gilbert immediately lunged forward, ripping the man's shirt up. There, underneath the black fabric, lay a softly glowing mark, identical to the one Gilbert now carried.

He yanked his hand back like he'd been burned. His bright red eyes darted back up to the stranger's, and he licked his lips nervously, his mouth suddenly feeling extremely dry.

"Daddy! Daddy, what's wrong?" The little boy—Alfred was his name—was yanking on the man's shirt.

"Not now, Alfie…" The man brushed Alfred off almost dreamily, and continued to stare at Gilbert like he was hallucinating. "Daddy's talking…"

The boy pouted. "Are not…" He mumbled.

Gilbert's hands clenched and unclenched. What was he supposed to do in a situation like this? He'd never met this person before in his life, and they were both alphas, to boot.

He sighed and broke eye contact. He rubbed his face tiredly, feeling a bit too overwhelmed to put all of his feelings into words. Sure, the man was attractive. Sure, Gilbert was happy he'd found his soulmate—some people never found their's.

He looked at those lovely green eyes again and offered a hesitant smile. "Hallo. I—I'm Gilbert. Gilbert Beilschmidt."

The man blinked, seeming to come out of a trance. He nodded quickly. "I am Arthur Kirkland." After a moment, he offered a hand to Gilbert that was just visibly trembling.

The albino had to bite back his instinct at taking advantage at such a show of weakness in front of him—after all, Gilbert was positive he seemed no better off. This whole thing had him pretty shaken up.

"I… uh." That was the best response he could come up with? He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly before sitting down. "So. Um. What brings you to the laundromat at this hour?"

Arthur stared at him for a second longer before shaking his head. "No. No, no, no." He muttered. "This is wrong. This has to be wrong. We're both alphas, it doesn't work like this!"

"Hey, chill," Gilbert felt like he was being rejected. This _sucked_. There were worse things but truthfully, at the moment he couldn't think of a one. "I'm sure it happens sometimes, I bet we could work it out—"

"Oh, so now you think you can talk to me like you're actually dating me?" Arthur burst out. "No! You can't! Absolutely not! I don't sodding know you from atom!" Gilbert stood to meet the Brit's outburst on his level, not wanting to be talked down to. "How the bleeding hell do you know if this will work or not?" Arthur growled, and stepped closer. "You can't know a damned thing! This is all wrong and I demand we visit a physician to confirm this!"

Ludwig clamped his hands over his ears and started to hum. When Gilbert saw that, he immediately took the boy into his arms, his nose nuzzling into his soft tuft of blonde hair. He rubbed Ludwig's back gently, murmuring words of comfort and assurance to him.

"Is that… your son?" Arthur's gaze had softened considerably along with his voice as he looked at Ludwig.

Gilbert just shook his head. "No… Little brother."

But Ludwig _felt_ like a son. After all, hadn't _Gilbert_ been the one to care for Ludwig all of his four short years on the planet?

"Did that… upset him?" Arthur asked hesitantly.

"You weren't using your inside voice. Of course he would be upset! He has manners." Alfred chided him, crossing his arms. His lip was jutting out and he glared at Gilbert. "Why are you two ignoring me?"

Arthur smiled then, an exasperated, tired, but fond smile. He ruffled Alfred's hair even though the boy ducked out from under his hand after a moment, shaking his head a bit with a tiny, irritated huff. "I'm not ignoring you, love."

He clicked his tongue and didn't look at Arthur, instead choosing to glare at the floor.

"Your son?" Gilbert nodded to Alfred, returning the question.

Arthur looked at Gilbert then, and suddenly he seemed to haggard and run-down that he might collapse. "Yes." He sighed. "For now."

"For now?" Gilbert shifted Ludwig on his hip and titled his head. "What does that mean?"

The Brit just shook his head, another sigh issuing from him.

Gilbert sat again, placing his brother on his knee. "Come on. Sit. Let's just talk about this, okay? I mean… I'm pretty fuc - _messed_ up about this, too. But… the signs don't lie." He gestured with his free hand to his lower abdomen where the marking was.

Arthur sat down wordlessly. Gilbert bit his lip and stared at his washing machine, currently spinning his clothes around and around and around in an endless circle.

Suddenly he turned to look at Arthur. "This would be better if… if we could talk alone." He decided. "How about we take the kids to a friend of mine? I trust them. One of them has been my best friend for years and the other… is kind of an ass, but hey, she's not a bad person. I mean, Chiara's been grumpy since she's been pregnant, but…" Gilbert shrugged. "They wouldn't mind getting the kids for a night or so, so we can sort our own shit out."

Arthur looked at the children and, after a moment, he nodded.

The door to the laundromat opened—another person entered. They smelled sharply of alcohol.

Gilbert continued to watch the laundry spin in silence.

"Daddy…" Alfred whined after a while. "I'm bored!"

Arthur didn't respond, and Gilbert barely registered Ludwig climbing off of his lap to move with hesitant steps toward Alfred.

"Do you want to play with me?"

"You didn't even wanna talk with me before! Besides, why the heck would I play with a stupid baby like you?"

"… Okay."

"… No, no, wait! Ugh. I mean—um, I mean, I guess we can play something! But I get to pick!"

Gilbert briefly watched the two kids with a small, tired smile. But he turned to Arthur. "If it would make you feel better, we _could_ see a doctor... if only to see what an Alpha/Alpha relationship would be like."

Arthur seemed to consider this for a moment. "Yes. Yes, I think that would be a good idea."

The albino nodded. "Alright... Well... while we're sitting here waiting for my laundry to finish, why don't you tell me about yourself? Unless you want me to go first. I'm fine either way."

"No, it's quite alright, I wouldn't mind going first."

Gilbert nodded and leaned forward a bit, resting his elbows on his knees and tipping his head toward Arthur. "Alright."

They remained there for an hour after Gilbert's laundry was washed and dried.

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 _ **This isn't my best work, but let me know how you think I did.**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Not Beta'd.**_

 _ **Disclaimer and original Tumblr prompt in chapter 1.**_

* * *

"Do you have a car?"

"Ja. That's how I got here."

Gilbert was going back and forth, between dryer and laundry basket, stuffing clean clothes in, one bunch after another. He'd fold later. Right now, that was the last thing on his mind.

He'd learned quite a bit about Arthur over the past couple of hours. The man had moved from England to Pennsylvania because of his mate's job (He'd mentioned briefly that his wife was now his _ex-wife_ , and also a, "bloody frog.") and they'd lived there for a while with their two sons, Alfred and Matthew. Arthur was a freelance songwriter, musician, and novelist. He had a very difficult time making a living now that he was divorced. His ex had custody of one of the children, the younger son, and Arthur was struggling to keep custody of Alfred. His ex was suing and it hadn't been going very well for him. The last social worker that came to visit hadn't seemed to like Arthur very much.

That was the short of it all, at least. The man was smart, but he was an artist and a nonconformist, that was for certain. Gilbert could relate. It was hard, but at least Gilbert had skills in things like math and science to fall back on.

The albino picked up the basket and called out to Ludwig, who obediently dropped everything to scurry to his big brother's side. Earlier, Gilbert had called up one of his best friends. He'd woken the man up but felt good that at least his mate had been able to sleep through the phone call. Being pregnant, Chiara needed all the sleep she could get. Antonio had assented to caring for the two children, if only because he'd be perhaps giving them a snack and then putting them down to bed. He knew Ludwig already as a well-behaved child, and when Gilbert had described the situation to him, he'd seemed hard-pressed to refuse. Chiara would be disgruntled when she awoke in the morning, Gilbert knew, but even that harsh woman had a soft spot for children.

"So I'll be driving us, right?" Gilbert asked, turning to Arthur for clarification.

"If you'd like." The way he said that made it seem like, rather than leaving it up to Gilbert, the Brit expected it.

Gilbert simply nodded, taking Ludwig's hand and heading to the door.

The ride in the car was quiet and a little bit awkward. The tension rose higher with each mile the car leapt and Gilbert couldn't take it any longer.

"So you can come in and talk to Antonio a bit if you want." The albino blurted into the silence. "I mean, you probably wanna meet the dude that's gonna be taking care of your kid… But if you can, keep your voice down. His mate is pregnant and trying to sleep."

That was also a word of warning to Arthur. A pregnant couple was often a hostile couple, and any strange movements or offensive scents let off by other Alphas was sure to set Antonio off into protection mode. It was, in other words, a warning to tread lightly as they entered Antonio's territory.

Finally, Gilbert pulled up to the side of the road where a line of roomy looking duplexes sat in a row.

"We're here."

"Hmm. That certainly didn't take long."

"Mhm. Thankfully, he lives pretty close to us."

Gilbert stepped out of the car and went to the back seat, opening the door and unstrapping Ludwig from his car seat. He pulled the now quite sleepy boy into his arms and slammed the door with a pop of his hip. Arthur and Alfred were waiting for them on the sidewalk. Gilbert noticed Alfred's eyes hovering nervously on Arthur. They briefly flashed up to the albino and he noticed those eyes were bright with tears.

He wanted to comfort Alfred somehow… but also did not feel it his place to be consoling a boy who yet thought him a stranger. What good were his words, anyhow, to a possibly scared child? He wanted to pry into that young mind, figure out what was wrong and get right to the root of the problem. But of course, that isn't what you did with children.

"Alright, Ludwig." He said, loud enough for Alfred to hear. "You're gonna be staying at Toni's tonight, okay? This time Alfred is going to stay the night with you. I promise we'll be back tomorrow, just like always." Ludwig simply nodded, rubbing a fist into one of his eyes. He seemed to have surrendered to his exhaustion, and could no longer hold his head up, instead burying it into Gilbert's neck.

Gilbert shifted Ludwig into one arm, texting Antonio that they'd arrived. It wasn't long when the door quietly opened and a tall, tanned man with shaggy brown hair and forest green eyes peeked outside. He motioned that they should come in, so Gilbert went first. Arthur followed more slowly, tugging an unwilling Alfred behind him. Gilbert motioned for Arthur to shut the door and Antonio leaned against the banister there, seeming like he just wanted to drop his head down and sleep. He was obviously blocking the entire upstairs area and therefore, his mate, by positioning himself in front of the stairs. Gilbert wasn't sure whether Antonio was aware he was doing this, though. Knowing him, probably not.

The Brit quietly introduced himself and Alfred. Antonio replied with a simple nod and smile, stating his name as well out of courtesy even though Arthur obviously knew it already. Gilbert then set Ludwig down and stepped forward, a small smile on his face.

"Dude. Check this out." He tugged up his shirt to show the mark that had appeared earlier.

Antonio's eyes widened then, as though he was just then fully awake. He hurried to embrace his friend.

"This is amazing!" He cheered as loudly as he dared.

Gilbert pushed him gently away. "Hey. I gotta go get to know him now though."

An eyebrow waggle. "You two are spending the night together, then?"

"What? No! I mean we've just met!"

Arthur was sputtering behind Gilbert, having heard. "That's absurd! We just want to talk!"

Antonio's eyes flickered back to Arthur for a moment. "But…" confusion filled his face and suddenly, Gilbert knew what he was about to say. "You're both Alphas… How will that work? You cannot dominate each other at the same time – how will you live in the same house? Two alphas in one house?" Clearly this was all a bit too much for Antonio to handle. The volume of his voice rose with each question, and he must not have realized his mate was awake because he jumped nearly ten feet when he heard her voice.

"Oi! Bastardo! What the shit is goin' on, huh?"

Both Antonio and Gilbert cringed, sharing a look of guilt mixed with something like fear.

Arthur didn't seem to get the idea. He looked upon Chiara with confusion.

"Gilbert, is that the one you said was a bitch?"

Alfred perked up. "Who's a bitch?"

One could almost hear Chiara growling. "You God damned Brit punk ass little shit! You come into _my fucking house_ and insult me in _my fucking living room – "_

"Chiara, por favor…" Antonio stepped up to his mate, taking both of her hands. "I didn't mean to raise my voice, please go back to bed."

"You know what, no! No I won't! I deserve to know what the hell is going on in my own God damned house!"

"Chiara, please, there are children…"

Alfred finally burst into tears. "Daddy! I don't wanna stay here with the mean lady! Don't make me stay here! Please don't make me stay here! Take me home, Daddy, I wanna go home!"

Gilbert's attention was immediately directed to Alfred, so much so that he hardly noticed the rest of the home had gone silent. He could smell fear and distress coming off of Alfred in strong waves and wanted nothing more than to make the boy feel safe.

Apparently Chiara felt the same.

Before he realized, the Italian was past Gilbert and kneeling with some difficulty in front of a cringing Alfred. Her gaze was soft, apologetic even.

"I'm sorry I scared you." She said. She kept space between herself and the boy and did not reach for him. Gilbert knew that this was so Alfred wouldn't feel trapped. "Can you understand how I felt waking up to a bunch of people in my home, two of whom I don't even know?" She pressed a hand to her protruding belly, her eyes remaining locked with Alfred's. "I have something to protect, now."

Alfred looked with a curious gaze at the woman's tummy, then back up. He said nothing, but slowly nodded and looked back to Arthur.

"Will you really come back?" Gilbert could hear the concern in his voice and something in his chest twisted. "Mama and Mattie didn't…"

Arthur had been hovering over Alfred, not sure what Chiara was doing so close to his boy when she'd been so aggressive just moments before. But he visibly relaxed at this.

"I promise I will come back tomorrow."

"Chiara…"

The woman turned back to look at her mate, and pushed herself up off of the floor.

"I apologize. I will explain everything, alright? Please don't be angry with them."

Chiara simply stared at him for a moment before scooping Ludwig into her arms with a huff of exertion. "Come on, you brats. Let's go to the kitchen. You can have something to eat before you go to bed, okay? We have lots of nice things." She began walking off.

"Much better than whatever British or German food you've been eating…" Antonio sighed and shook his head. "I… I'm sorry about her – she just didn't expect this and –"

"It's fine, you don't have to explain." Gilbert assured his friend.

"Can I give you my number?" Arthur asked, stepping forward. "In case anything happens, or Alfred needs anything."

The Spaniard smiled tiredly and nodded. "I'll get a pen and paper."

As soon as he'd left, Arthur immediately turned to Gilbert. "I am so sorry about that… I just sometimes have a problem keeping my mouth shut!" He muttered. "Not usually! I never usually have a problem, I just –"

Gilbert waved him off. "Hey, listen. The best people are the ones that speak their mind. I want you to say what's on your mind, no filters. Okay?"

Arthur blinked as though surprised that someone would say this to him. "Okay."

Antonio returned with a pen and a piece of scrap paper, which was a little odd since usually people just entered each other into their contacts these days, but the Spaniard quickly explained that he was just too lazy to go back upstairs to get his mobile.

They waved goodbye then and left, stepping outside into the cool night air.

"So." Gilbert stated.

"So." Arthur turned to look at the albino.

"What now?"

Arthur shrugged. "You hungry?"

Gilbert nodded, "A bit. Wanna go to McDonald's?"

Arthur made a face. "That food is horrid."

"Yeah," Gilbert shrugged. "I know. But it's fast and cheap. And frankly I don't have money for anything not on the dollar menu."

"Mhmm." Arthur nodded. "Yes… neither do I."

"So… McDonald's?"

"If we must."

"We're dirt poor, dude."

Arthur just rolled his eyes and Gilbert couldn't help but laugh as he headed for the car once again.

* * *

 ** _Mieudiary:_ Thank you so much for taking the time to leave such a nice, constructive review! That is done by so few people and it's often so disappointing to post something and get absolutely no feedback. Anyway though in regards to the beginning of the last chapter, the moment when Gilbert was on his laptop was actually sort of like a flashback - the chapter _started out_ right in front of the laundromat, and then there's the flashback and it goes back to Gil at the laundromat. Hope that makes a little more sense now! Thank again for the review!**

 ** _Iluna Sorgina Talis:_ This is one of my favorite ships, too. Like, first of all, Tuetonic x Templars? Second of all, punk pairing? Yes?**

 ** _Spitfire K:_ Haha well, I tend to enjoy heavier descriptions and setting mood and things like that. I write in a flowery style, and this is just, not that? I just don't feel like this is as nice a fic - and by that I mean the writing - as compared to something else I've written, like _Wishing I Could Freeze to Death_. I feel like this doesn't communicate emotion as well and is rather plain. Anyway I'm really glad you think my characters are in character! I RP both of them and am sort of portraying them as how I RP them.**

 ** _Fangs and Fire:_ I am definitely continuing with this! Glad you like and thanks so much for the review~!**

 ** _Mimota Layon97:_ Ahh I didn't even think of that while writing this? But I love it omg! It struck me just how well they all fit together I honestly love this idea. Thank you for the review!**

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 **Please give me some feedback on this chapter! I am very tired posting this right now, it is about 3:30 in the morning so I may have missed some errors since I'm literally falling asleep at my laptop! Let me know if anything sounds funny!**


	3. Chapter 3

So I'm going to be taking my account down. This story, and everything else on my account, will be o AO3, so it's not like I'm leaving really. Remember, even as a guest you can r&r on AO3. I have never gotten a message that tells me my work is unfot for this site so I sort of just hoped I'd get lucky and no one would tell me to tone down the sex or whatever. But some fucking coward left a review as a guest that told me... well, you can just read it. It said that I was breaking the rules and I was in danger of this and that or blahblahblah. Anyway, I wanted to let everyone know. And any fic I haven't finished you can trust will be continued, though I'll be working on other things atm.

My AO3 account i [:] / / [/] users [/] Winter [underscore] Genisis [slash] profile

I only just started writing again and i don't want to lose you guys because of some scummy site's shitty rules!


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